The European Environment Agency calls for reducing the use of pesticides

The harmful effects of pesticides on the environment and biodiversity are well known. Yet their sales have not declined in ten years. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has called for reducing their consumption, in a press release (in English) posted Wednesday, April 26.

“In the Europe of 27, pesticide sales have remained relatively stable, at around 350,000 tonnes per year between 2011 and 2020”, says the organization. The EEA established this constant based on figures from Eurostat.

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In 2020, one or more pesticides were detected above thresholds of concern in 22% of river and lake monitoring sites in Europe, she points out. Among these molecules, imidacloprid, from the neonicotinoid insecticide family, and the herbicide metolachlor, recorded the highest absolute number of exceedances throughout Europe, mainly in northern Italy and in the north-east of Italy. Spain. In groundwater, atrazine, a tenacious herbicide banned since 2007, is responsible for the greatest number of exceedances.

In humans, exposure to chemical pesticides is mainly via food but also via the air in regions of intensive agriculture. It is linked to the development of heart, respiratory and neurological diseases, and to cancers, the report points out. “It is worrying that all the pesticides monitored (…) were detected at higher concentrations in children than in adults”notes the EEA.